Israel orders civilians to evacuate as it expands its military campaign in Gaza to capture "large areas" of territory

Without going into specifics, Katz stated in the statement that the operation will also entail a "large-scale evacuation of Gaza's population from combat zones."

The statement claimed that the military operation would spread to "seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israel's security zone, while crushing and clearing the area of terrorists and terror infrastructure."

Late on Tuesday, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson gave the order for people living in the southern Rafah neighborhood of Gaza to evacuate and head north.

Tens of thousands of troops would be sent into combat to clear and control huge sections of Gaza as part of a possible big ground attack, according to an Israeli official and a second source familiar with the situation who spoke to Industrialist last month.

Whether more Israeli troops would be part of the enlarged operation was not made clear in Katz's speech on Wednesday.

Israel's aerial bombardment of the strip continued at the time of the announcement.  Officials from Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital in Khan Younis, where the remains were transported, said that Israeli attacks in southern Gaza killed at least 17 people overnight.

According to Nasser Hospital, at least 13 of the victims, including women and children, had sought refuge in a residential home following their displacement from the Rafah region.  The victims were taken to Al Awda Hospital in central Gaza, where two more people were killed in a second attack.

Weeks after enforcing a total ban of humanitarian aid into the territory, Israel broke a two-month ceasefire with Hamas by resuming its offensive on Gaza two weeks ago.  It issued a warning that until the remaining 24 hostages, who are thought to still be alive, are freed, its forces would remain permanently stationed in several areas of Gaza.

Since then, the UN has warned that food supplies are running low and that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the enclave.

For weeks, the Israeli military has been preparing for a major operation in Gaza under the direction of Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, its new and more assertive chief of staff.  The Israeli military may occupy the area and combat insurgencies for years if such a choice is made.

However, the Israeli public, which has been demanding a hostage release agreement rather than a return to war, may also fiercely oppose a longer-term offensive in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the Israeli hostage families' forum expressed their horror at the news of the military operation's expansion.

"The Israeli government is sending more soldiers into Gaza to fight in the same places they have fought time and time again, instead of securing the release of the hostages through an agreement and ending the war," the forum said in a statement.

The "Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, and the Chief of Staff stand before the public in general and before the hostage families in particular and explain how this operation serves the goal of bringing the hostages home," the forum demanded in their statement.

In recent days, Egypt and Qatar have stepped up their attempts to bring Israel and Hamas back to a ceasefire. On Sunday, the militant organization accepted a new Egyptian proposal, and on Monday, Israel responded with a counterproposal.